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    Coventry - Cathedral of Peace: Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation
    Coventry - Cathedral of Peace: Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation
    Coventry - Cathedral of Peace: Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation
    Ebook127 pages1 hour

    Coventry - Cathedral of Peace: Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation

    By Kenyon Wright

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    About this ebook

    In 1940, when Hitlers bombers reduced Coventrys ancient cathedral to ruins, he coined a new word. He threatened to coventrate all of Britain.
    Coventry thus was given an iconic status as a symbol of the triumph of good over evil, of forgiveness over revenge, of reconciliation and peace over division and conflict.
    The ruins are still there today as a warning, but the new and magnificent new cathedral has become the powerhouse of a ministry both to the city and to international conflicts.
    The book is in three parts.
    Part 1 is a series of dramatic and moving stories of that outreach, from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
    Part 2 describes the history of how the cathedral came to be such a unique and active symbol of renewal and peace.
    Part 3 asks what lessons are to be learned from that story for a world in greater danger and with deeper divisions than ever.
    Finally, the author, from his long experience of international reconciliation, defines the steps that are essential if the old wounds of history are really to be healed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse UK
    Release dateAug 14, 2012
    ISBN9781468585803
    Coventry - Cathedral of Peace: Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation
    Author

    Kenyon Wright

    As director of the Centre for International Reconciliation in the famous new cathedral of Coventry, Kenyon Wright was responsible for projects in many parts of Europe, East and West, in Ireland, in Asia, and the Middle East. Previously, he served as director of an industrial institute in India and went on to play a leading role in founding the Scottish Parliament. For this, he was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

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      Book preview

      Coventry - Cathedral of Peace - Kenyon Wright

      © 2012 Kenyon Wright. All Rights Reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

      or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 08/0/2012

      ISBN: 978-1-4685-8579-7 (sc)

            978-1-4685-8580-3 (e)

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

      and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      missing image file

      Contents

      Part I is a series of vivid stories of significant events in the International ministry.

      Part II sets these in the context of the story of the Cathedral and its unique team ministry to the city and the world.

      Part III asks how, if at all, the experience of these years is relevant today

      A Postscript analyses how and when Reconciliation becomes true and real

      Cathedral Of Peace

      Coventry – Cathedral Of Peace

      A Personal Note

      Foreword

      Introduction—The First Twenty Years 1962-1981

      Part I Cameos Of Reconciliation In Action

      1. A Vision Of Europe

      2. The Links With Israel And Palestine

      3. Calcutta, And The Europa-Calcutta Consortium

      4. The Agony Of Bangladesh

      5. The Story Of The Czech Cross

      6. Europe’s Shame – Auschwitz..

      7. The Inauguration Of One World Week

      8. Ecology & Christian Responsibility

      9. The International Year Of The Child 1979

      10. Coventry 80 (Pride In Our Past; Faith In Our Future)

      11. The Saga Of Iceland And The Coventry Glass

      12. Reconciliation Begins At Home

      Part II. A Cathedral For The City And The World

      1. A New Cathedral For A New Age?

      2. A Ministry For All Seasons

      3. The World Is Our Parish

      4. From Network To Community

      5. From Ministry To Centre

      Part III Towards A New Reformation?

      Postscript—Steps On The Road To Reconciliation

      END NOTES

      CATHEDRAL OF PEACE 

      Healing the Wounds of History in International Reconciliation

      Wherever the strong exploit the weak: wherever the rich take advantage of the poor: wherever great powers seek to dominate and to impose ideologies, there the work of making peace is undone; there the Cathedral of Peace is again destroyed . . . . . . Yet the Cathedral of Peace is built of many small stones . . . . . . Work for peace starts when we listen to the urgent call of Christ ‘Repent and believe in the gospel’."

      Pope John Paul II, delivered in Coventry 1982, published by the

      Cathedral’s Centre for Social & International Reconciliation

      DEDICATION To the memory of a beloved Bishop, Cuthbert Bardsley, and of the 5 pioneers he called to Coventry’s new Cathedral to ensure that it would be the home of a unique ministry to the city and the world – Edward Patey, Simon Phipps, Joseph Poole, Stephen Verney and Provost Bill Williams.

      COVENTRY CATHEDRAL OF PEACE 

      One of the greatest adventures of my life was to share for nearly 20 years in what was probably the most exciting experiment in Church renewal in Britain in the 20th century—the ministry of the new cathedral of Coventry.

      The new Cathedral, combined with the dramatic ruins of the old, would always have been iconic – a symbol of hatred overcome by forgiveness and reconciliation. It would also always have been a lasting treasure house of some of the finest art and craft of the 20th century. The genius of the five pioneers called to shape the ministry of the Cathedral gave it a role that went far beyond the symbolic, much more distinctive and far-reaching.

      That included a unique international role in healing the wounds of history and an equally unique team ministry of outreach into all areas of corporate life in the city.

      A Personal Note 

      Life said the philosopher Kierkegaard "must be lived forward but understood backward

      When I was called from India to join the Cathedral Team in 1970, I knew I was joining something special. Indeed I had already been working closely with members of the Coventry team for many years before.

      Looking back, my whole ministry fell into three clear phases, of which the 11 years at Coventry Cathedral, described in this account, were the centre. 15 years before that were spent in India. In the 60s, I built, and became first Director of, the Ecumenical Social & Industrial Institute (ESII) in the exploding new industrial city of Durgapur in West Bengal. This developed a Team ministry close to the Coventry model, and became the national training centre for those serving in urban and industrial ministries in India. Our annual 3-months course included guest teachers from the Coventry Industrial Mission and from Germany. We developed a new Urban Ministry to the great city of Calcutta, and I also served as Convenor of the Industrial Service Committee of the National Christian Council of India, and of the equivalent committee in the East Asia Christian Council based in Singapore – in which capacity I co-authored the Asian book on Structures for a Missionary Congregation in Singapore in 1964, and later edited the Asian handbook Mission Industry in 1968 in Hong Kong.

      All of this owed much to the Coventry experiment which was a model and inspiration for us. As early as 1963 Canon Simon Phipps, then Industrial Missioner at the Cathedral, and later Canon Stephen Verney in the Urban Ministry, somehow heard of our work, felt it had much in common with the Coventry experiment, and made contact with me This led to close cooperation from 1964, to participation in the great People and Cities Conference in 1968, and eventually in 1970, to my surprise, to an invitation to join the team at Coventry. When I came, three of the original charismatic team had moved on – Stephen Verney, (who proposed me as his successor in Urban ministry) to be Canon of Windsor; Edward Patey and Simon Phipps to be respectively Dean of Liverpool and Bishop of Horsham. There remained the towering figures of Bill Williams the Provost and Joseph Poole, the brilliant Precentor. Neither suffered fools gladly; both were demanding and uncompromising; neither was easy to work with, but I owe them both a debt I can never repay.

      The Coventry years, for which I will always thank God, are fully covered in this account. Deeply grateful and enriched by this experience of reconciliation, I left in 1981 to become General Secretary of the Scottish Churches Council, which led to the formation of the new Ecumenical Instrument ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland). The experiences of Reconciliation at Coventry bore fruit when I was asked to chair the Executive of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, in which through a long and painstaking process of argument, reconciliation and consensus, we drew up the blueprint for the new Scottish Parliament – based on clear Christian constitutional principles! In 1999 I was invested as CBE by Prince Charles for services to constitutional reform and Scottish devolution.

      My task as Director of Coventry’s International Ministry and the Centre for International reconciliation (CIR) was both exciting and rewarding. I often called it the best job in the British Churches

      During these years, I visited Cross of Nails Centres throughout the world and spoke and preached often in the States, most memorably in President Carter’s Church (First

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